back to school - Ellie in Kindergarten? say whaaaa!?

and one of the biggest most monumental days of Ellie's little life came: her first day of kindergarten! formal education! and all of a sudden she seemed so big. and grown up. she was so adorable on her first day.

she online shopped with me for the first time ever and picked out her first day of school outfit like in the beginning of July. she laid out the outfit the night before. and going to bed she told me she wasn't going to be able to sleep. when she woke up, i could tell she was nervous. she said to me, "Mama, I don't feel very good... I still want to go to kindergarten, but can you hold me for a second?" i totally knew that emotion she was experiencing ... total nervousness and butterflies. i hugged her real good and told her it was ok to be nervous, but that i just knew she was going to love kindergarten, and that kindergarten was my very favorite. 

 when we arrived to the school, Ellie got more and more shy... until she saw two of her little friends from her Preschool class - Maddie and Micah. all of a sudden, i saw her breathe a huge sigh of relief. the best part - Maddie was in her class! Ellie was over the moon excited.

then it was time to line up and say goodbye. she was so brave and looked unsure but happy too.

my very favorite part of the day was after school -- Ellie gave me the biggest running hug of all time!

she also hugged her teacher goodbye when no one else did, which i really loved a lot. on the way to the car she told me all about her day and told me that she loved Mrs. Shelley and was excited to make friends. she asked me if i'd help her learn how to do that (so cute) and so for the next few FHE's, we had role-plays on how to meet little friends and ask them to play. for some reason the whole thing makes me smile so big. i just love thinking of my first kid at school. but it makes me sad too. i already feel her slipping through my fingers a bit - like my ripple of influence is diminishing. i just hope she knows what she needs to know to be the kind of kid she needs to be to survive and to shine her sweet little light in today's world. i love that Ellie girl so big.

on the Alice side of things, we started a little Joy School group with her friends Tate, Alice and Peter. such a darling little group. Alice loves that she has her own "school." i hosted Joy School at our house for the first little class. we talked about the letter A and talked about apples, did apple art, and did other fun A things. Joy School is so simple and yet so fun. Alice is loving it!

other than that, the girls' activities started back up - including dance and violin. we are busy but happy. and these are the most adorable little dancers and violinists on the planet.

 xoxo

i love joy school.

i think i've made it pretty clear on my blog how much i love joy school. this year was the first year that i was with a group that actually followed the "joy school curriculum" -- and i totally condone it! it was so perfect for Ellie and her stage of life; learning social skills and core values that i think are so important for kids to know (more important than colors and shapes, in my opinion). we were in the best group with the three cutest little girls and cutest moms- it honestly was one of those little blessings from heaven for Ellie and me this year.

last week we had a little graduation for these cute girls- and it was adorable! they are just the cutest little squirts ever.

highlights of graduation:
-casual bbq with awesome fellow-joy school families

-girls playing like they're each other's bff's (they pretty much are!) and their siblings joining in on the fun, too (i can't wait to have a huge play structure in my yard someday, by the way).

-getting to wear their very own graduation caps (Ellie thought that was pretty awesome)

--the cutest little program including: singing in their cute lil graduation caps,  a sweet little slide show of pictures from throughout the year (which i'll share at the end of this post), presenting them their diplomas and report cards, followed by some serious hugging and celebration (it is a BIG deal to be a joy school graduate, people!).

(note: Alice kept getting up through the program to stand with the girls and even sing the songs. she definitely feels like she's one of the big kids. cutie pie)

-Ellie would tell you that her favorite part of the graduation was the cupcakes. and let me tell you, they WERE pretty amazing. and look how cute they were, too!

-these are the cute moms that i got to see every week all year long- and who were Ellie's teachers. they have all become such good friends whom i love and admire so much! (sorry for the wonky picture/expression of me- my camera was being weird that day. and this was the only one that wasn't blurry that i got. whatevs).

-then somehow all the girls ended up in dress-ups

-and Alice started flashing everybody

-and hi-jacking the graduation caps

-and so we decided to go home, where i obviously had to have a lil photo shoot with Ms. Ellie, the Joy School Graduate. Alice didn't want to be left out- so she snuck in a couple. little stinker.

-oh, and this is the little slide show i made for the graduation. it was super simple- but i'm happy with how it turned out!

can't wait to do Joy School with Alice!

and as for Ellie, now she's onto Pre-School in the fall! she's thrilled about that- and i'm thrilled for her, even though i know that means that she's just continuing to grow up exponentially fast. sigh. such a smart, sweet, & sassy big girl she's turning into!

xoxo